Problem Research Of Local Government Credibility In Crisis Management

This thesis analyzes the credibility of local government in crisis management by reviewing the past achievements in how the government coped with a series of typical food safety incidents which happened in the past years. It also indicates the lack of credibility of local governments when dealing with associated problems while making suggestions about how to enhance the government's crisis management abilities in the future.To the modern government,public crisis management is an important function as well as a key factor which affects the credibility of the government. Zhang XuXia from the University of Foreign Trade and Economic who wrote "On the way to enhance the credibility of the Government" pointed out that the legitimacy of the government was based on the public trust. Moreover,public trust in government is not only conducive to the establishment of cooperation between the two interactions,but also to enhance the Government's ability of resolving risks and conflicts. According to the risk society theory,the credibility of the government is seen as an essential element which promotes the economic development and social prosperity. However,public distrust of the government happens all the time,therefore the formation of the relationship of trust always takes time. Local government should pay more attention on the importance of the credibility of crisis management in the public value as well as how to build and maintain the public trust to the government.This thesis consists of four main parts:Section 1,Introduction of the theories of crisis management and public credibility of local government. On one hand,this part describes the basic connotation of crisis management and public credibility of local government which includes the crisis management concepts,classifications and procedures; the concepts of credibility of local government,the evaluation criteria as well as the levels of credibility divisions. On the other hand,this section investigates the relationship between crisis management and public credibility of local governments. The public credibility of local governments reflects the ability of how well can governments managing in public crisis events. Governments'philosophy,systems and behaviors will affect their credibility in crisis management and they are also very important factors of how well can the public trust the local government. The occurrence of public crisis reflects the level of credibility of the government and also will trigger at a deeper level of public thinking of the credibility. The credibility reflects the political legitimacy of the government,and it also provides an important guarantee for local government to accomplish the management functions in public crisis management. Public crisis management is difficult to rely on the government's efforts alone; it needs the positive interaction between government and public society which is also linked by the credibility of the local government.Section 2,Further discuss the"Melamine Incident"from a realistic level by using empirical analysis."Melamine Incident"is a public event in the public health crisis belongs to the categories of food safety incidents. Take this crisis in particular,government,business and media can not shirk its responsibility. Government,as the responder of social management,did not appropriately and comprehensively performing its regulatory duties which eventually led to the outbreak in a large-scale. Although this section focuses on the development of Sanlu milk powder incident,it does not mean that the author believes that it simply equals to the"Melamine"incident. Furthermore,Sanlu milk powder incident could reflect the lack of credibility of local government through all stages of its development.Section 3,The third part is the key section of this article which is also the joint point of the whole context. Lack of credibility of local government influences the basis of the government. Therefore,the investigation of the reasons of how to prevent the loss of the credibility of the local government becomes very essential in order to improving this situation and eliminating potential problems. This section analyzes the reasons of"Melamine Incident"while summing up the problems of credibility of local government. During the process of writing,the author interestingly realized that any particular incident is not a result of unilateral. Therefore,the author did not indicate the reasons analysis in the first level paragraph titles. Moreover,take the"Melamine Incident"as an example; the behaviors of local governments can be differentiated with three levels of classifications in accordance to the credibility of the government. The analytical framework being used in this section carefully examined this with three aspects of the credibility of the government,which are concepts,systems and behavior,accordingly,and summed up the corresponding problems in the"Melamine incident".Section 4,The fourth part describes how to enhance the local government's credibility in the crisis environment based on the needs of crisis management and in view of their own weaknesses in dealing with the associated problems. The enhancement of the credibility of the local government can be achieved by improving administrative philosophy as the effectiveness of the behaviors of local government in crisis events largely depend on its administration concepts. According to this,the establishment of prevention-oriented concepts in crisis management should not be neglected as it can help establish a superior system of the government crisis management. During this enhancement process , government should take the responsibilities of providing an orderly and legal system which can help improving the confidence in crises management. If not,it may spoil and otherwise good opportunity of building community-oriented co-operation and support. Although in modern society,crisis can not be avoided permanently,the harm can still be restrained effectively if government and civil servants put the public interest in their first priority and work together to the best of it.Last but not the least,the author confidently believe that a set of response systems in crisis management will be established and implied which can also help enhance the credibility of local government. In the age of crisis-prone,every citizen should look forward to that local governments will be lessons learned in time; increase their sensitivity to crisis incidents; take the responsibility on the management of public affairs and provide effective public services as their primary duties which will bring social and economic development in tandem,and help to build a better community.